The Bloomsbury Festival 2018: Activists and Architects of Change

Sunday Festival Hub – Rights of Woman

Bloomsbury Festival is five-day celebration (17-21 Oct 2018) of the area’s pioneering creativity. Presenting an inspiring programme of arts, science, literature, performance, discussion and reflection, each October the Festival shines a light on the radical imaginations, institutions, and 11,000 residents that shape contemporary Bloomsbury.

This year the festival’s theme is ‘Activists and Architects of Change‘. 2018 marks the centenary of The Representation of the People Act 1918, which permitted women to vote for the first time.  Whilst not all women (or indeed all men…) had the vote, it was a crucial moment in the campaign for equality and democracy.  Bloomsbury has a rich history of activism and is as radical now as it has ever been; Bloomsbury institutions, thinkers and scientists pioneer change across the arts and sciences.  We anticipate an interesting and inspiring 2018 Festival!

For the forth year running Conway Hall are delighted to be hosting the Sunday Bloomsbury Festival Hub.  Named after Bloomsbury resident Mary Wollstonecraft’s famous 1792 paper, Rights of Woman, The Bloomsbury Festival’s hub at Conway Hall, contains rousing talks, vital debates and thought-provoking exhibitions from some of the boldest and bravest voices around.

Talks & Discussions

11am: Sunday Assembly – The Rights of Women

11.30am: A Woman’s Revolution in Northern Syria

12.45pm: Heroine Addicts: So you think you can chant

1pm: Voice, Visibility and Velocity: Muslim women, past and present

2pm: From votes for women to #MeToo, the story of Women’s Rights, Past, Present and Future

2.30pm: Women’s Work

4pm: Sex and the Politics of Pleasure

Workshops

12 noon & 2pm: Speak Up, Speak Out

Performances & Screenings

11am & 3.45pm: Mrs Shaw Herself

11am-5.30pm: The Ladies Bridge

2.30pm: Mary, Mary – Further than the Edge

6.30pm: Barbican Piano Trio

Exhibitions – 11am-5.30pm

Feminism in Camden in the 1970s and 80s

Celebrating the Centenary of Women Lawyers

‘As though a rock had been lifted and there were green shoots beneath‘